Ok so i think ive been looking into some gaming audio gear. Haven't completely decided on what im going to get, but i am leaning toward the Corsair hs1a headset. The problem at hand, however, is that i would like a decent sound card to match. I have mostly been looking at the asus xonar cards, mostly the dg, ds, and dx. Those are the only ones that are in my budget.

So the question is, which sound card should i choose? I like the idea of the virtual surround sound, as i am mostly using this for gaming, however i don't know how well it will work, or if it will even make that big of a difference.

Well, I just bought a DX about a month ago, and it's outstanding. The virtual surround isn't all that great for music, but for gaming I've been absolutely blown away by it. To give you an idea of the detail it provides, using it in Borderlands, I can hear my expended shells hit the ground and tell you what direction they roll away. And in Black Ops, if someone fires a rocket my direction, I can actually hear it fly by my head. And if I'm being shot at, I can tell what direction the shooter is from me, as well as hear where his bullets are landing if it's close by and he's hitting a wall or the ground.

To be clear I'm getting this experience using a Razer Carcharias headset, which is only stereo.